


Rise

by angeldescendant



Category: Banana Fish (Anime & Manga)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Post-Canon, Reunions, Tears, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-28
Updated: 2019-04-28
Packaged: 2020-02-08 11:55:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18622825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angeldescendant/pseuds/angeldescendant
Summary: Speeches shared during Sing and Akira's wedding.





	Rise

**Author's Note:**

  * For [VeterPeremen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/VeterPeremen/gifts).



> For Rare Pair Week, Day 8: Past, Present, Future/Clocks. IDK if I'll be able to post for the rest, but this, for me, is the only rare pair that matters. Guess who the best man is ;) 
> 
> This is a sequel to my friend's fic (that she hasn't posted yet). Keep an eye out for it!

_‘in the mud and scum of things,_

_there alway, alway something sings.’_

_-Ralph Waldo Emerson_

_Speeches_

 

**Groom's**

 

"I’m sure none of us expected that of all the girls I texted you about, none of them would last long enough to be sharing my vows with me. You know my reputation and I know yours and we made it! I, Sing, your favourite caddy, confidante, and fanart critic is requesting to add husband to my list of titles. Be proud of this big ape.

 

"Uh [laughs] I promise to love you as I love Eiji [laughs]. He was our only shared interest at first before you introduced me to Backstreet Boys and animé and soccer. You’d always make this face with matching green contacts whenever I send you our pictures in Cape Cod together. You’d always insist to come back here a second time. Today, I’ve granted your wish.

 

"I [laughs] promise you one more thing. This time, I promise to build a time machine. A self-time machine [laughs]. I’ll bring myself back to the time I was a hotter mess than five years later, back when the height difference stood out more. To the time I can still beat you in soccer. Back when you drew bananas for hands and dreamed of marrying Akagi from Slam Dunk. You really had questionable taste in men, even then [laughs]. Back to the time when we’d call each other, international calling rates are damned, to update you on how Eiji’s doing. To the time when I admitted that I’m just a big hunk of muscle and bone and empty on the inside. When you hugged me half a world away. When you said to this meathead that it’s ok to let go, to stop living the life of somebody else. To be Sing.

 

"I haven’t told anyone, but when you cried that cloudy afternoon, blaming yourself for not being born the way they wanted you to be, I wished I hugged you until you wanted me to stop, instead of inviting you to the park and playing catch. I wish I held your hand tighter in front of that portrait. I wish I told you right away all the terrible things I dreamed about. You grew up too fast but never forgot to take me along for the ride.

 

"It is a funny thing, how we both thought Eiji would be our endgame. Funnier that Eiji flipped the tables on us. Despite everything, I don’t want to change the past because you are my past and the future. We’ll probably end up playing more catch along the way, and our child may end up beating us both at soccer but we'll hold our ground, I guess. Thank you, Akira. Instead of letting me focus on the waves as I sailed, you showed me the vastness of the sea. And over there, at the far horizon, was the dawn. Let’s welcome it together. I love you. Let's kiss."

 

* * *

  **Bride's**

"That is quite an act to follow [laughs]. I would've cried if I wasn't in awe yet again. Sing-Soo Ling, folks. Uhm... [laughs] Well, to continue where you left off, I also admit that I'm scared as hell. I have none of the fine polish, the rich experience, you already possess.  Innocence and näivety are crystallised into Akira Ibe, soon to be Akira ABC. But enough of the self-pity and sycophantic remarks, and into the moment where I'll try wasting your time with 5 promises.

 

"First, I promise to not get breast implants. You always kept honking about the girls you’ve dated and the generous blessings they’ve accumulated over here but I’m sure you married me because I can keep up with you in our soccer and baseball matches. I also have a mean right hook, if that shoulder can remember.

 

"Promise #2, I promise to cook the best orange chicken you’ve ever tasted. I’ll also get around to making those mooncakes at Sis Nadia’s next Chinese New Year. So you can look forward to coming home. Less Chang Dai take outs each week [laughs]. No cheating this time around, cross my heart.

 

"Third and the most difficult one, I promise to invite my family, not just Uncle Shun, on our silver wedding anniversary, ok to dinner when they visit, screw that, every chance we can. I’ll make sure to call them every month, ok, _every week_ and update them on our ‘progress’ or whether I’m planning on returning home, tail between my legs, which is the least likely but whatever. I promise that they’ll get a ton of baby pictures when our first child comes around [laughs].  Maybe then they’d decide to come to America, language barrier be damned.

 

"Which brings me to my fourth promise. I promise to make Okumura Eiji the godfather of our firstborn, and all our children to come [laughs]. I promise to make sure he goes bankrupt from all the New Year money and birthday gifts and even when we move out, that he won’t feel lonely, like the time he made us realise we weren’t alone too.

 

"Finally, I promise to cherish this day and the rest of our days. To keep falling in love and letting that love decide everything; to accept and give in return; to be brave and braver in telling you when I’m not; to cherish every tick of time we share together, even when you’re half a world away; to cherish your entire being, all your scars, your weaknesses, your ghosts… I promise to love cruelly, fully, unabashedly, from this world until the next. It won’t be as boring as this speech, cross my heart.

 

"I promise to make every present in our finite lives feel infinite. To cry and laugh and despair and dream and embrace whatever befalls us. I love you. I love you. I am yours, you big ape."

 

 

* * *

 

**Best Man's**

Firstly, I would like to thank the guests for coming, the people who made this wedding happen, for Ibe-san in taking the wheel when I was at the aisle and now delivering this speech at the reception, myself for playing cupid, and to the bride and groom for feeding us. You two no longer have an excuse to sleep at my house. Use your house in Rhode Island, you rowdy homemakers.

 

The three of us, Sing, Akira and I, would always go to Chinatown. I won’t embarrass them any further with the things we do there, but it was a sacred world for us both. I promise to make a list of the places you should visit when you do go [laughs]. Sing and I were afraid, I guess, more because we were selfish pricks and were wary of sharing. But Sing decided to share anyway. Made Akira taste the best wonton soup in all of New York in Chang Dai Tea house [laughs].

 

I always look through our photo albums from the first time I went to New York. I first met Sing around the time, and believe me, he’s barely Akira’s height when he was fourteen. He had to grow up faster than most of us at that age. The first time I met him, you’d remember right, Lee Yut Lung [laughs] he was a total firecracker, wielding his Flying Dragon Fang and being a little mister badass. For his age, more surprisingly, I’ve never met a fourteen-year-old boy with that much a sense of honour, integrity, and empathy. He understood and breathed life into the meaning of that last word. You tamed a dragon and tamed a world you didn’t want and visited my place in between. You’ve stared death in the face, mostly in my stead. Your heart is bigger than mine will ever grow to be. I see something in you that I wish I gave the first time I was here in New York: A future.

 

Aki-chan, you are the unlucky half of this relationship. You’ve always been the rational one, willing to reign in Sing even by yourself. I leave him in your care now. Remind him to take baths on a regular basis. He’s not as keen with that as his predecessor [laughs].

 

Both of you makes me a little envious, to be honest. We’re at the crossroads now, and despite your best efforts, you will leave me behind soon. When that time comes, don’t look back. If you do, keep moving. I wish I had.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> [twitter](https://twitter.com/angeldescndnt) and [tumblr](https://treesha-san.tumblr.com/)


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